Free Syrian Army rebels gather inside a cave in Idlib, northwest Syria. A fatwa allowing people to eat cats and dogs has been issued in rebel-held areas of southern Damascus, residents say, underscoring the plight of citizens as the civil war rages a short drive from the centre of the Syrian capital, where UN chemical weapons inspectors are staying.

A suspected Syrian soldier is captured by Free Syrian Army fighters during what the FSA says is an offensive against forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, in Qobtan village in Aleppo on Thursday.

The Khalid bin Walid mosque’s mausoleum has been partially destroyed in the al-Khalidiya neighbourhood of Homs in central Syria. Syrian army shelling destroyed the centuries-old mausoleum, a monitoring group and activists said on July 22.

Syrian rebel fighter Abu Al Dardaa walks towards the front-line as rebels attack regular Syrian army areas in the Salaheddine neighborhood of Aleppo on Monday. Syria’s rebel prime minister Ghassan Hitto announced his resignation, nearly four months after his appointment and having failed to form a government

Eight-year-old Suleiman fled to Lebanon with his family from the Syrian town of Qusair after it fell to Hezbollah fighters and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. He stands in front of his belongings, in Arsal town, near the Lebanese-Syrian border on Wednesday.